Batman: Gotham's Crusader
by 13en-writes-all
Summary: After witnessing the loss of his parents, Bruce Wayne goes off, and joins the Army, eventually becoming a Green Beret. But following an undercover mission in which his best friend is killed, by his hand, he leaves the Green Berets and returns to Gotham. He then becomes Batman and vows to fight injustice however he can. Rated M for violence, language, and later chapters...
1. Origins

**Part 1 – Origins**

Gotham City Sky Tram…

A six foot two Caucasian male with black hair and blue eyes sat on the tram by himself.

It wasn't a normal sky tram, it was octagonal in shape, made almost completely of bulletproof glass.

The TV above him flashed another headline, Gotham City's hottest reporter Vicky Vale came on, her head story went, "In other news, Gotham Billionaire Bruce Wayne has made no comment to the popular and frequent rumors of him running for the office of Mayor."

Bruce sighed, being Mayor of Gotham?

He loves and hates Gotham at the same time, the city had swallowed up so many things, and give him so much else.

Gotham's corruption had gone so deep the infection in the wound was almost incurable, the city's corruption had swallowed his parents, some of his friends, and one of his ex-girlfriends.

(Flashback)

He still remembered his parents' murder as if it were yesterday, he had seen his favorite movie in the theatres for the second time.

"I can't believe you insisted on going to see that movie again," Thomas Wayne said as he put his hand around his son's shoulder.

Of course, he was kidding, but Bruce looked up to defend himself as if his father had just scolded him, but before that could happen, Martha defended him.

"Stop it, Tom, you know Bruce loved that movie," Martha said.

"We're running late," Tom said as he checked the pocket watch his father gave him when he returned from Vietnam that his father gave him when he returned from Korea, he pointed to a single alley, "We'll cut through here."

"It's dark," Bruce said, "We can't go down there."

"Don't be afraid," Martha said, "We're here."

The three of them walked down the alley, Tom adjusted his suit as it started raining.

"It's starting to rain, let's hurry," Tom said as he sped up.

"Keep up Bruce," Martha said as she dragged Bruce along.

It was right then that _he_ came out of the shadows, he wore a large dark brown trench coat, black shoes, pants, and shirt.

In his right hand was a .357 Ruger revolver, "Don't move!" He exclaimed.

"Easy," Tom said as he held up his hands, "There's no need for this."

"I want your money," he said.

"It's right here," Tom said as he went into his pocket, pulled out his wallet, and handed it to the man.

The man snatched it from Tom's hand, and looked over at Martha, "Give me those," he said as he pointed to Martha's pearl necklace, Martha frantically tried to get the necklace off her neck, when Tom tried to help her, he shouted, "I SAID DON'T MOVE!"

He must have panicked because the gun when off, and Tom fell forward.

"DADDY!" Bruce shouted.

"TOM," Martha yelled, "OH GOD, TOM!"

"Shut up and give me the pearls," he said as he tried to grab the necklace.

"Get off me," Martha said as she swatted the man's hand away, and scratched him across the face, drawing blood, "RUN BRUCE!"

The second shot went off, and Martha fell on top of her husband.

"MOMMY!" Bruce yelled.

The man got the necklace off Martha's neck, and held the gun on Bruce, "Consider yourself lucky kid," he said, "See you later."

Bruce knelt there crying before a uniformed officer a few blocks away came running with his police-issued Sig-Sauer drawn.

The officer ran up to Bruce, "Hey," he said as he put his hand on Bruce's shoulder, and put away his pistol, he pointed at Tom and Martha, "These your parents," Bruce nodded, sniffling, "What's your name?"

"Bruce Wayne," Bruce said.

One hour later, the alleyway was a crime scene, and Detective Jim Gordon was the one assigned to the case.

Jim walked up to Bruce, "Bruce Wayne," He asked, Bruce nodded, he was wrapped in a towel, the rain had stopped, he was soaked, but he was primarily shaking because he was in shock, "My name is Jim," Jim sat next to Bruce, "I'm sorry about your parents. I know you don't want to talk, but it's the only way we're going to catch him."

"Why'd he do it, officer," Bruce asked, "Why?"

"I don't know," Jim said as he looked at the Gotham Skyline, "It's something about this town," Jim looked down at Bruce, "I promise you right now, I'm gonna find the man that did this."

Bruce threw himself against Jim, Jim simply wrapped his arm around Bruce.

The Gotham City Times had gotten a picture because the next morning as Bruce was back home, the Gotham City Times newspaper headline read, _City Shocked! Wayne Parents Murdered!_ The front page of the paper had a picture of Bruce hugging Jim, and Jim hugging back, the tagline read, "Detective Sergeant Jim Gordon hugs Bruce Wayne, the sole survivor of the Wayne Family after a lone mugger gunned down his parents, Tom and Martha Wayne in an alleyway behind the Monarch Theatre.

(End Flashback)

That day was seared into Bruce's memory for the rest of his life, it was like a bad mistake he couldn't forget.

He still blamed himself for their deaths, he kept running it over and over again in his head, he knew there must have been something he could have done to stop him, but he couldn't find it.

The police caught the man, it took them ten years, when Bruce was in his sophomore year of high school, they didn't really get a confession out of him because he killed an Atlantic City police officer, and was gunned down himself.

The police, however, had no doubt in their minds it was him, Jim had tracked him down like a hawk when he and his partner went to arrest him, he resisted, and Jim shot him as he tried to flee.

Following the shooting, Jim found the room full of receipts, it took the police a week to sort through them, but they eventually came across a pawn shop ticket from 1999, one week after Bruce's parents' murder for a 20 karat pearl necklace, and a .357 Ruger.

The tracked the ticket to a pawn shop in Virginia, the necklace and the gun had yet to be sold.

The police showed the gun, the necklace, and a picture of the man to Bruce, he confirmed the gun was the one he saw that night and ballistics confirmed it was the gun. The necklace was unquestionably his mother's, but the man in the picture didn't look like the man in the alleyway, then again it was ten years, Bruce was six then, and he was sixteen and it was 2009 when the man caught with the receipt died.

The case was considered closed, but Bruce wasn't satisfied.

Even as he went off to West Point to college, he couldn't get his parent's murder out of his head.

He graduated in four years as Valedictorian, and returned to Gotham City, he was 21 and had become the head of Wayne Enterprises, becoming the youngest Billionaire ever.

But growing dissatisfied with his life, his last resort was in a uniform, leaving the company in the hands of Lucius Fox, he shocked Gotham and America when he hung up his suit for a set of brass bars and an Army Uniform.

In 2015, he shipped out to Afghanistan in the 18th Engineering Brigade.

In 2018, at the age of 25, he was applied to the Green Beret School and passed with flying colors.

What set him in motion the events that would lead to him leaving the Green Berets was one deployment into a hostile situation.

A group of Army Rangers went down in a Knighthawk, and were stranded in Ghazni Province, Afghanistan, Bruce's squad's job was to fly to Ghazni Province, find the Rangers stranded in the ancient ruins they went down in, call in extraction, and leave.

They would take a V-22 Osprey in, get the Rangers, or what was left of them, and hightail it to safety.

"Alright," Lieutenant Colonel John Wyatt said over the rumbling of the engines, "We just entered Ghazni Province! The Rangers on the ground are waiting for us! Our objective is to get them the hell out of there! He looked up at Bruce, "Wayne, you're on point?"

"Damn right I am sir," Bruce said.

"Good man," Wyatt said, "Grab your weapons! We're half an hour out."

Bruce grabbed his weapon from above his head, his weapon of choice was a WayneTech SCAR-L CQC 10-inch barrel version fitted with a Sightmark Mini Shot reflex sight, plus he always kept six fresh layers of duct tape tapped around the stock that he painted a black bat onto, and a piece of cloth wrapped around the forend so his hand wouldn't get burned if he had to remove his gloves.

His sidearm was a Colt 1911 with a blued finish, fake ivory grips, and the etching of a bat laser-engraved into the slide.

Twenty-five minutes later the red light went on symbolizing it was about time to go, but as it did go on, several holes appeared in the wall.

As the team dove to the ground, a small explosion shattered one of the windows, and Corporal Michael Lance codenamed 'Camelot' fell to the ground holding his stomach screaming, "I'M HIT!"

Bruce crawled over to Lance, "Hang on Lance," he said as he checked Lance's wounds.

"Am I gonna be ok sir?" Lance asked.

"Some tearing wounds," Bruce said, "So long as none of them hit your spine, you should be good!"

Bruce signaled the team's medic, 'Bandages' toward him.

"What've we got?" Bandages asked.

"Some tearing wounds," Bruce said, "Get him bandaged up!"

As Bandages wrapped the gauze around Lance's stomach as tight as he could, Bruce was handed his 1911 by his best friend since he had joined the unit, Staff Sergeant Nicolas (Nick) David Moore, but everyone in the squad called him 'Robin'.

"Excuse me, sir," Nick said as he held out Bruce's pistol, "You might need this."

"Thanks," Bruce said as he took the gun, slid it into his holster, and locked it in place.

As the back of the Osprey opened, the team rose to their knees, then the green light came on, and the team charged out the back.

The team made a jump from seven feet out the back of the Osprey and ran into cover.

Peeking out of cover, they could see the Rangers were pinned down, taking cover behind their chopper, and shooting at the hostiles just above them on a small, rocky hill.

"Range," Colonel Wyatt said as he pointed to the team's sniper, "What're we looking at?"

The team's sniper Jack Richardson, AKA Range pulled out his MacMillan TAC-338, aimed at the hostiles, held the middle-finger on his left hand down, and gestured twice: sixteen hostiles armed with AKMs, he then held up his thumb, index, and middle finger: three hostiles armed with RPKs, then held up one finger, formed a cup with his hand, and held it over his right eye: one hostile armed with a PSL sniper rifle.

"Wayne, Moore," Wyatt said, "You up for a little run?"

"Always," Bruce said as he turned toward Nick, and nodded.

Nick's main weapon was an M4A1 painted a very dark red with black accents with an attached M203 Grenade Launcher, a dual-stage flip-up scope, and he always kept a piece of dark green duct tape around the grip.

Bruce and Nick readied their weapons, and after Nick picked up the ammo crates full of M4 magazines, the two ran as fast as they could for the chopper.

As they arrived at the chopper, Bruce looked at the Rangers, "Heard you guys could use some help," Bruce said.

"You're Captain Wayne aren't you," the first Ranger said as he did a quick magazine change, "I hope you guys have full magazines in those guns! We're almost out!"

"We're here to correct that," Nick said as he opened the ammo cases to reveal the spare magazines.

As the Rangers gathered the magazines, Nick popped out from behind cover and fired at the hostiles before seeing a hostile pull an RPG, "Oh shit," Nick exclaimed before turning toward the soldiers, "DOWN!"

As the hostile fired, the Rangers ducked behind cover, the RPG slammed straight into the side of the Knighthawk's tail and sent several Rangers and Bruce flying.

Bruce was dazed, but as he looked up, Nick shook him back awake, "Nick," he said as he sat up, "How many?"

"No one got hit," Nick said as he handed Bruce his SCAR back, "Come on, let's get these guys out of here!"

Bruce reloaded his rifle, and turned toward the Rangers, "Alright," he said, "We'll cover you," he pointed at where the rest of the squad was, "Get over there and double-time it!"

Bruce and Nick popped out from behind cover to lay down a steady stream of covering fire toward the hostiles.

It didn't take long for the Rangers to arrive with the other Berets.

"Think we can make it," Nick asked.

"We'd better," Bruce said, "You owe me twenty bucks from the Super Bowl."

"That's one upside," Nick said, "If you die, I don't have to make your blue-blooded ass twenty bucks richer."

"Then I'm going to make sure you do survive so I can get my money out of you," Bruce said.

As Bruce and Nick ran towards the area their squad was, and upon arriving, they found the squad was still exchanging gunfire with the hostiles.

"We got them," Nick said as they joined Wyatt, "The chopper's pretty much gone."

"Good," Wyatt said as he reloaded his M14, "Frequency! Get us that chopper!"

The team's communication's officer, Sergeant Richard 'Frequency' Malone grabbed the radio, and immediately contacted the chopper team, "Big Bird this is Alpha-One-Echo! We have the package and need extraction!"

"Big Bird copies all," the chopper pilot said, "Be advised we are twenty five minutes out, but you need to be on board when we arrive, we're stretching out fuel as it is."

"Roger that," Frequency said, "Boss! The chopper is twenty five minutes out!"

"Then we hold out until they arrive," Wyatt said, "Let's fight out way out!"

He quickly popped up and let off several shots toward the hostiles: one of the shots was high, but caught the hostile high in the neck.

Bruce got a few shots off, he even managed to hit one of the hostiles.

Nick fired off one round from his M203, the explosive shredded three hostiles, and disoriented several others.

The fighting continued, the enemies' numbers seemed relentless, and the bricks they were taking cover behind was slowly degrading away to almost nothing, worn away by the hostile's bullets.

"Sir," Range exclaimed, "We're in danger of being overrun!"

"I know that," Wyatt said, "Frequency, get on the horn, and call those birds!"

"Roger," Frequency exclaimed before turning on his radio, "Big Bird, we are heavily outnumbered, and in danger of being overrun! Where are you?"

"Alpha-One-Echo," the chopper pilot said, "We are about three minutes out. We'll try to go faster, but we're trying to save fuel."

"We might not have three minutes," Frequency said, "We need extraction or we're not going to make it!"

"We'll try to make it," the chopper pilot said, "We'll get there when we can."

"Sir," Frequency said as the signal went blank, "Big Bird is still a few minutes out!"

"Then we hold the line," Wyatt said before kneeling up to fire, "Keep fir…" it was then that the right side of his stomach exploded.

"Colonel," Bruce exclaimed as he crawled over to Wyatt, and pulled him against the wall.

"Oh fuck," he exclaimed, blood slowly turning his uniform a dark red, "How bad is it?"

Bruce checked the wound, "Not so bad," he said, "Just nicked the top of your liver. We're going to get you out of here!"

"Captain," Wyatt said, "If I don't make it…"

"Don't say that," Bruce said as he grabbed Wyatt's jacket, "We're getting you out of here!"

"If I don't," Wyatt exclaimed, "Take care of the squad! It'll be in your hands!"

"You'll be fine," Bruce said, "No one left behind!"

Bruce then raised his rifle, and continued firing: the hostile he hit was spun sideways because of the impact of the bullet.

Nick managed to get off three shots from the remainder of what was left in his magazine before ducking into cover, and exchanging the magazine.

Bruce then heard the roar of an Osprey's engines, "Chopper's here sir," Bruce said as he reassured his CO, "You're going home."

"Alpha-One, we have visual conformation," the pilot said, "Be advised this has to be a very quick dust-off."

"Roger that," Frequency said, "Captain Wayne, we need to move!"

"Got that," Bruce said, as he held out his hand to Nick, "Robin, give me a smoke!"

"Smoke," Nick exclaimed as he retrieved a smoke grenade, and tossed it to Bruce.

Nick retrieved his own they both pulled the pins, and gave them a quick chuck over what was left of their cover.

The smoke grenades went off, leaving a nice cover for the team who ran towards the Osprey with the Rangers.

Bruce heaved Wyatt onto his shoulder, and took off running toward the chopper.

As soon as he made it onto the back-gate, the Osprey took off, leaving the hostiles in the dust.

Jalalabad Airport…

The team sat in the operating room, waiting on the news on Wyatt when the head of surgery walked out of the operating room, blood smeared on the front of his coat, and on his sleeves.

"Well," Bruce asked as he walked up to the surgeon.

"We did all we could," he said, "But the bullet opened a small hole in his liver's central vein. When we tried to go in and repair the damage the hole opened up. We couldn't get him back," the surgeon held something out to Bruce, "You might want this."

In his hand was Wyatt's challenge coin.

 _Guess what happens_ …


	2. League of Assassins

***Before I begin, I'd like to start by saying that someone the day I posted the first chapter of this story I received a guest review, and when I copied and pasted all seven into a word document it was over thirty pages long. Sir if you are reading this: you have an amazing understanding of the Batverse, and I deeply respect that.**

 **Part 2 – Undercover**

Jalalabad Airfield – Spec Ops Office…

"By that time, the chief surgeon revealed to the team that Colonel Wyatt had died on the operating table," Bruce said.

"It should never have happened, Captain," Colonel James O'Neil said, "You accomplished your objective, but you lost your CO. The situation has changed, however… from what we got from debriefing the Rangers, it seems their Knighthawk was shot down with a Stinger."

"What's so surprising about that," Bruce asked, "We left hundreds behind from the Soviet war here."

"Not a cold-war era Stinger," Colonel O'Neil said as he pushed a small file towards Bruce, "Take a look."

Bruce took the file off the table, and looked over the pictures, "Those are Wayne Tech," he said.

"We know," Colonel O'Neil said, "A crate of Stingers were stolen off of a U.S. Military base. They were then sold to the Taliban."

"Who sold them," Bruce asked.

"Check the next picture," Colonel O'Neil said.

Bruce pulled out the next picture, inside was the picture of a small symbol: it was a Chinese Dragon inside of an octagon that was made of Middle Eastern Talwar swords with a pair of Japanese Shirasayas sticking upwards in front of the dragon.

"What's this," Bruce asked.

"Pictures were taken by one of the agency's undercover operatives," Colonel O'Neil said, "Apparently back during the First World War, in order to supply his Arab Raiders with weapons, Lawrence of Arabia made a deal with a group of fanatical rebels called the League of Assassins. They've been on the radar of every intelligence agency in the world ever since. They deal in everything from drugs, weapons, artifacts, and so on and so forth. The C.I.A. even used them to supply weapons to our Southern Vietnamese allies during the Vietnam War. The problem is they also supplied weapons to the V.C. and the Northern Vietnamese. They are even some rumors they supplied weapons to the Axis and to the Allies during WW2. This is the first time weapons that we have solid proof that they've supplied have been used against us."

"Does your undercover operative know what they plan to do with the weapons," Bruce asked.

"Not yet," Colonel O'Neil said, "But he has it on good authority that they're planning an attack. We don't know where yet, and we need to find out. We want you to join our operative. You can bring one member of your team, but that's it."

"I'd like to bring Nick," Bruce said, "I need someone who I know has my back."

"I thought you might," Colonel O'Neil said as he held out another file, "Here's your cover story."

 _Flight 942_ , Kabul to Dhaka, Bangladesh…

"I can't believe he's gone," Nick said.

"He went out like a hero," Bruce said, "Now all we can do is honor dad's memory."

"I know," Nick said, "It still sucks."

"We're all we have now bro," Bruce said as he held out his hand, "We gotta stick together."

"Yea," Nick said as he grabbed Bruce's hand.

 _Dhaka_ …

Upon landing, Bruce instantly recognized their way in Oliver Queen, the long-lost son of Robert and Dinah Queen: Wayne Enterprises' main supplier of steel back when his father was alive. Oliver and Bruce were actually classmates at West Point.

"Hello," Oliver said as Bruce walked up to them, and shook their hands.

The vehicle he decided to take them in was a 1979 Jeep CJ7, rugged, reliable, and painted a terrible shade of red.

Driving out of Dhaka was an experience, but the real challenge was driving to the League of Assassin's hideout.

"So how far away is this hideout," Nick asked.

"A long time," Oliver said, "We're heading to the Rangpur Division. I'm surprised to see you here Bruce. I wasn't expecting a Billionaire's son to be in the Green Berets."

"And I didn't expect the son of a dead Billionaire, who's been missing for almost a decade to be working for the C.I.A.," Bruce said.

"Touché," Oliver said, "This your Plus one?"

"Yep," Bruce said, "My friend, Nick Moore."

"What is this cult-like orgnization," Nick asked.

"It's not a cult," Oliver said, "It's an organization. Trust me when I say you do not call it a cult. I've been undercover for the last five years, and I can tell you the leader doesn't take kindly to that."

"What will we be expected to do," Bruce asked.

"Learn," Oliver said, "The leader doesn't take to kindly to new faces. If you prove yourselves, he'll welcome you with open arms."

"Prove ourselves," Nick asked, "Why do we need to do that?"

"Do you realize how difficult it was to swing this," Oliver asked, "The leader only lets those he trusts recruit followers. You wouldn't believe how much time it took me to convince him to let me recruit you two."

"Then let's not waste it," Bruce said.

"Good," Oliver said, "Now get comfortable. It's going to be a long ride."

The mountain that they passed through could have been straight out of the pages of a history book: back before humanity started to destroy the forests and jungles for paper, roads, and buildings.

"This place is beautiful," Bruce said, "Practically untouched."

"Yes, it is," Oliver said, "The guardians patrol these forests."

"Guardians," Nick asked.

"Watchers," Oliver said, "Members of the League. They guard these forests, so that pesky tourists don't start nosing around in here."

"I take it we need to be careful about what we say here," Bruce asked.

"Yep," Oliver said.

"Good," Bruce said.

It took another few hours to reach the main temple: it was an old-school Buddhist temple, probably long abandoned by the monks.

As Oliver shut off the engine, he, Bruce, and Nick stepped out of the Jeep and walked up to the door.

"Hold right there," a voice on top of the gate exclaimed.

Oliver, Bruce, and Nick looked up at the top of the gate to see there was a Caucasian- Middle Easter woman about five foot five with light brown, almost red hair dressed in a pair of knee-high brown leather boots, black pants, a white shirt, and a black jacket that had Kunai knives in their holsters running down her ribs.

"Hello to you too Talia," Oliver said as he put his arms behind his back.

"Hello Oliver," she said as she moved her head in the way of the sun when she did, Bruce was not expecting to see such a beauty to be in this kind of place, "Who are they?"

"These are my recruits," Oliver said before gesturing at Nick, "Nick Moore," then towards Bruce, "And I think you know this one."

Talia jumped off and slid down the wall before landing on her feet, and walking up to Oliver before saying, "Bruce Wayne," she said, "Billionaire, entrepreneur, and former military officer."

"You know about that," Bruce asked.

"About being let go," Talia asked as she walked around him, "You and your friend here were discharged."

"Unjustly," Bruce said as he looked at her.

"That's why you want into the league," Talia asked, "You want revenge?"

"Revenge is not a valid motive," Bruce said, "It's an emotional response. This isn't revenge, its justice."

"Are you saying what you're thinking," Talia asked, "Or what I want to hear?"

"I've never heard about you before today," Bruce said, "Oliver didn't tell us much about you and your leader."

"Indeed," Talia said as she walked up to Oliver, "Well done."

Talia led them through the main gates into the main courtyard: inside were men dressed head to toe in ninja garb carrying swords with thirty-four-inch blades.

As they walked through the courtyard, they knew they were being watched, when they looked up at the balcony overhead there was a man about five-foot-nine, Middle-Eastern, probably Egyptian, he had long black hair with two-inch-thick lines of white hair along the sides of his skull. He wore a pair of black leather boots, green pants, a quilted and studded green shirt with red embroidering that went down to his mid-thighs, a pair of gold-metal vambraces, and a large green cape with a high collar that went up to his ears.

Standing next to him was a beautiful five-foot-five Caucasian-Japanese female with green eyes, like Talia, and shoulder-length dark red hair. She wore a pair of boots very similar to Talia, brown pants, a white shirt with a single pink stripe, and a brown jacket that was strapped with Kunai knives.

Talia led Oliver, Bruce, and Nick into a large room, "Interesting," Bruce said as they walked up to a throne which the man they saw on the balcony walked up to.

The throne was made out of cherry wood, had red quilted, studded leather, had a very high back, and the ends of the armrests were formed into the shape of dragon heads.

The man sat on the throne, and Talia walked up to his side to join him, the opposite side from the other girl.

"They're his daughters," Bruce thought.

"All kneel before the Demon Head, Ra's Al Ghul," Talia proclaimed.

Oliver knelt, followed by Nick, then Bruce, and then everyone else in the room.

"You have come forth to prove yourself worthy to join the League of Assassins," Ra's said, "Oliver Queen. State the names of your recruits."

"Demon head," Oliver said, "To my left is Nick Moore. To my right is Bruce Wayne."

"Bruce Wayne," Ra's said, "Famous billionaire tycoon from Gotham City."

"Yes," Oliver said, "The Military discharged him on unjust charges. He wants justice."

"Then we share similar motivations," Ra's said, "My daughters Talia and Nyssa will see to it."

 _Two hours later_ …

Bruce and Nick stood with Talia and Nyssa on a large net that stood over a large pool of water that was so cold it was the same consistency as a slushy. Oliver looked off to the side, sitting on a perch just above the net.

Talia held up a Glock 19, "You must learn the weakness of weapons," she said, "You must learn how to control the ones that you can work with," she then tossed the Glock to Bruce while Nyssa tossed a Randall 18 knife, "Now, let's see you overpower us."

As Bruce raised the Glock, Talia jumped into Bruce, planting her foot into his chest, and sending him flying backward, getting his foot caught in the net, but quickly recovering only for Talia to take a swing at him which he dodged.

Nick swung the knife at Nyssa who stepped into the swing, pushing the knife aside, and elbowing Nick on the side of the jaw, sending him backward.

Bruce raised the Glock, and fired, only for Talia to shove the gun upwards, causing the paint-bullet that was loaded into the weapon to splatter against the ceiling.

There were really so many paint bullets exploded against the ceiling that it could have passed for a gigantic Jackson Pollock.

As Nyssa kicked him back, Nick lost his footing in the netting, sank all the way to his knee, and fell backward as Nyssa tried to kick him, only for Nick to free himself and roll sideways.

Nick then stood up and swung at Nyssa who pushed the knife upwards, allowing Nick to drop the knife into his other hand, and attempt another swing.

Nyssa held her hand out, and as Nick swung, her hand caught onto the hilt, stripping him of the knife, and allowing her to gain enough leverage to swipe his leg out from underneath him, sending him against the net.

Bruce jolted backward as Talia tried to kick him, he then raised the Glock only for Talia to grab the top of the gun, roll into the movement, and send Bruce against the net, Talia holding the Glock in his face.

"Our bodies are tools," Nyssa said, "It does not control us, we control it."

"This is the weakness of weapons," Talia said, "They are tools to kill and destroy. They are not was gives us power. When you cannot rely upon the weapon, you must become the weapon."

"This was a balance exercise," Nick said as he pushed his back off the net, "You wanted to see how well our training in the Army had taken us."

"Yes," Nyssa said as she sheathed the knife, "But there is also one other benefit to the net."

"What," Bruce asked.

"This," Talia and Nyssa said as they pulled a small cord, opening a hole beneath Bruce and Nick, causing them both to fall through the net into the freezing cold slush beneath them.

"Good shit," Nick said as he surfaced a few feet away from Bruce, "That's cold."

Bruce and Nick looked up to see Nyssa and Talia holding themselves up in the net by doing the splits over the openings they had opened up.

"This is what you must learn," Nyssa said, "You cannot rely on guns and knives one hundred percent of the time. You must learn to rely on yourselves. This is the first step of your training. This is where your journey begins."

 _Guess what happens next_ …


	3. Training

**Part 3 – Training**

The training they put Bruce and Nick, alongside Oliver through was very comparable to what they put them through when they were training to become Green Berets.

One night, Bruce, Nick, and Oliver sat around a small fire with Talia and Nyssa, "The ability to create fear is one thing," Talia said, "While the ability to act on it is another."

"Rage at injustice is universal," Nyssa said as she handed a large Tantō knife to Nick, "The ability to strike back is not. And at its heart, violence is almost always personal… one way or another."

The swords they trained with were Damascus and San-Mai billets folded over so many times it was impossible to count the number of layers they had.

"Move fast," Talia instructed them as they began training with Oliver.

Oliver's attire was a pair of black boots, some black pants, and a leather collared vest, his weapon was a Japanese bow with blunt heads.

Oliver unleashed a flurry of arrows towards Bruce and Nick who moved left and right to try and avoid the shots.

Bruce quickly deflected one of the arrows, but as he dodged another, he bumped into Nick who was knocked down by one of the arrows.

As Bruce went to help him, another arrow brought Bruce to the ground.

"Failed," Talia said as she jumped down into the ring with them, "These arrows are for training purposes only. But if they were real, you'd be dead. You need to look ahead to see where the movement is going. Always look two or three steps ahead when fighting. Don't try to follow the arrows, try to anticipate the arrows. In the same way, you must try to anticipate your opponents."

The next day…

"You were in the Army," Talia said as she stood in front of Bruce and Nick, "You know how to engage six men in combat. Here we will train you how to fight sixty. The outside world uses guns," she then pulled out a Sig Sauer M17, "We train our men so they don't have to use guns," she handed the gun to Bruce, "It's loaded with blanks. Shoot me."

"What," Bruce asked.

"Shoot me," Talia said.

Bruce raised the gun only for Talia to shove the gun aside, and in one swift movement, she delivered a quick slap to the area that connected Bruce's forearm to his hand, causing Bruce to release his grip on the weapon, and allowing Talia to steal the gun and clear Bruce's attack radius.

"You don't need a gun to solve your problems," Talia said, "The weakness of weapons is one thing. But the weakness of a person is another," she then handed Bruce a steel vambrace which he strapped onto his right forearm, "When weakness is present, you put up a shield."

"This is one of those shields," Bruce asked.

"Yes," Talia said as she handed Bruce the M17 back, "Try again," Bruce raised the pistol, and as Talia slapped Bruce's wrist, his hand didn't open, she then tried to wrest the gun from Bruce's grip only for Bruce to pull her towards him in an attempt to get her off the gun, only for the two of them to trip, and fall backwards against the ground.

"Well," Bruce said as he looked up at Talia who placed her hands against Bruce's chest to gently push herself upwards, "This is…"

"Interesting," Talia said.

"Yea," Bruce said.

"Come on you two," Nyssa said as she walked up to them, "We need to get to work. There are others waiting."

"Ok," Talia said as she stood up, and held her hand out to Bruce who accepted it.

"Thanks," he said.

"It's very different when it comes to the knife," Nyssa said as she handed Nick another Tantō, "With a knife, there's no need to pull the trigger to get hurt or killed so getting a knife away from your opponent is paramount," Nyssa stood in front of Nick, "Try to stab me."

As Nick raised the knife, Nyssa grabbed his forearm and using her knuckles smacked the top of Nick's wrist, sending the knife clattering to the floor.

 _That night_ …

"That was certainly interesting wasn't it," Nyssa asked as she and Nick walked the wall of the compound, "Your friend and my sister?"

"Really he's like a brother," Nick said, "We entered the Army together, and we were kicked out together."

"It's interesting," Nyssa said as they stopped, and she took a seat on the edge of the wall, "You two seem to move in perfect harmony. You two met in basic training?"

"Yes," Nick said as he leaned against one of the ramparts, "We've been the best of friends ever since. Everything we've done, we've done together. When we first started we got into a fight with a Sergeant that only listened to his own opinion, and we kicked his ass pretty good. We held off sixty soldiers in Afghanistan together. We even got into a bar brawl when we were on leave in Thailand together."

Nyssa and Bruce both chuckled, "You do seem like brothers," she said, "Just like me and Talia."

"You two do seem to move quite well together," Nick said, "I guess it's a given for two people who grew up together."

"Actually we didn't," Nyssa said causing Nick to look at here, "Talia and I are half-sisters. Talia's mother, Melisande was French. When our father was in France he had a brief encounter with her."

"Resulting in Talia being born," Nick said.

"Yes," Nyssa said, "My mother, had an encounter with him, and nine months later: I was born."

"When did you find out you had a sister," Nick asked.

"About the same time, I learned who my father is," Nyssa said.

"He trained you," Nick asked.

"No," Nyssa said, "I learned on my travels to find him. I spent most of my travels searching for my father training with the best."

"I suppose you have a lot to teach us," Nick said as he moved around the rampart, closer to Nyssa, "Is it true what they say about redheads being dangerous?"

"All women are dangerous," Nyssa said as she leaned towards Nick, "It appears that what they say about men with green eyes is true as well. You boys can be quite charming."

"I wouldn't know," Nick said as he moved closer, placing his hands on each side of Nyssa, "I've never tried my charms on a girl that's kicked both me and my best friend's asses at the same time. Are they working?"

"Apparently you're curious," Nyssa said.

"I'm always curious," Nick said, leaning towards her, "I like studying the world around me. The places, the culture… the people."

As Nyssa chuckled, she soon realized she was falling backward, and she would have gone over the edge if Nick hadn't grabbed her by the arms, and pulled her into his chest.

Nyssa stumbled to her feet before accidentally leaning in very close to Nick, both hands on his chest.

As they caught themselves staring into each other's eyes Nick seized on the moment and kissed her.

He had only known this woman for about three months, but he did find her unbelievably beautiful.

By the way, Nyssa was kissing him, Nick could bet that the attraction was mutual.

They rushed into a large room with a grand king mattress sized bed with shiny red silk sheets and a curtain that surrounded the entire bed.

Nyssa pushed him against the door, and kissed him forcefully, right as he wrapped his arms around Nyssa, he pushed the door shut, and lifted her up as she kicked off her boots.

As he carried her towards the bed, Nyssa began pulling at the ties on Nick's vest, her skilled fingers diligently undoing the knot, and pushing the vest off Nick's body.

As he pushed Nyssa onto the bed, they continued their make-out secession…

(I'd continue but I think it's best to leave these kinds of scenes for the main character, no the supporting character)

The next morning a thin, single edge, scimitar-like curved, Damascus-San-Mai blade with a Katana-like grip slipped between the thin curtains of Nyssa's bed and pushed them aside.

It was Ra's who saw his daughter asleep with a man who had just come to their organization only three months ago.

A small devious smile crossed Ra's face as he closed the curtain, and walked out into the hall where several other assassins waited.

"I told you, master," one of the assassins said, "Shall we have him executed?"

"No," Ra's said, "This is exactly what I've been waiting for."

"Master," the assassin asked.

"We continue this," Ra's said, "And soon, I will finally have a male heir."

Two hours later…

"Where are they," Bruce asked.

"I don't know," Talia said, "It's not like Nyssa to be late."

"I'm not late," Nyssa said as she walked into the room with Nick, "We're late."

"Sorry about that," Nick said.

"Don't be," Bruce said as he walked up to Nick, and threw a few playful punches, "I was wondering what was keep you," he looked over at Nyssa, "Now we know what kept you."

"What you jealous rich boy," Nick asked, "That I now have a woman and you don't?"

"Oh fuck you," Bruce said as he playfully punched Nick in the chest.

"They seem to be getting along," Talia said as she doctored one of her knives before pointing at Nick, "So how'd it happen?"

"My and Nick," Nyssa asked, "We were talking on that nice romantic moment you and Bruce had yesterday…"

"Oh yeah right," Talia said as she gently pushed her sister's shoulder, "You know he did that on purpose."

"I'm sure he meant to pull you towards him," Nyssa said, "I bet he didn't mean for you to be such a klutz and knocking into him."

"Ok now it's my turn to say fuck you," Talia said as she pushed Nyssa away.

"I don't seem to think I taught my daughters to fight," Ra's said.

"Father," they both exclaimed as the saw him entering.

"No, no please," Ra's said, "Don't worry about it. I'm just coming to see how our new recruits are coming along."

"They're a work in progress," Talia said, "But they'll be ready."

"Indeed," Ra's said, "Right now, however, is the time I think to show our new members our secret."

"Now," Talia asked.

"Now," Ra's said as he picked a Glock 19 up off the table, "Come, this way."

The four of them followed Ra's to a smaller courtyard where Oliver was waiting.

"Where have you been," he asked.

"Training," Ra's said.

"I was going to say that," Talia said.

"And yet I said it," Ra's said, "Now come Oliver, it is the chance you have been waiting for."

The five of them followed Ra's down a flight of stairs that seemed to go all the way into the mountain the temple was resting against.

As they went further down, they soon noticed an unusual green glow at the bottom of the stairs.

"What are we thinking," Bruce said as he leaned over to Nick, "Jade, emeralds?"

"Maybe Uranium," Oliver asked as he leaned close to them.

"If you would follow you wouldn't have to speculate," Ra's said without looking back.

"That's spooky," Nick said.

"Don't take it personally, he does it to everyone," Nyssa said.

As soon as they arrived, they were soon looking out over a large mere of green, glowing goo.

"What is this," Bruce asked as they walked down the stairs to have Ra's stand at the edge of the pool.

"This is the secret of our order," Ra's said as he removed his armor, placing it beside him, and then his robe, his chest covered in a multitude of bullet, blade, and burn scars, "It's called the Lazarus Pit," he then raised the pistol, "Is this loaded with live ammo?"

"Yes, father," Talia said.

"Good," Ra's said as he pulled back on the slide, and raised the pistol to his forehead before pulling the trigger with his thumb.

Bruce, Nick, and Oliver jolted as Ra's fell back into the green liquid.

"Did your father just kill himself," Nick asked.

"Wait for it," Talia said.

After thirty seconds a hand arose from the pit, and a fully-alive Ra's pulled himself from the liquid, the bullet hole in his head was completely sealed, and there was no trace of blood on his face.

"Fuck me," Bruce said.

"This is the secret we protect," Ra's said as he walked around them, "The secret to immortality," as he was walking around them, Bruce noticed the veins in Ra's eyes were bulging, "There is a price, however… every time one comes back, their mental state steadily gets worse and worse. I have only just managed to keep it together. But I can feel myself getting worse."

"Then why do it," Nick asked.

"Why," Ra's asked as he stopped next to Nick, "Why do lions hunt for food? Why do birds migrate for the winter? Why does a sick person take medicine? They do it to survive. You have seen its power, but you do not know its limitations because it has none. I was born in Egypt during the reign of Pharaoh Ptolemy Philopator Philometor Caesar," he then pointed to a scar on his back, "Since then I have fought with Roman Legions," he pointed to a small scar on his shoulder, "Saxon Warriors," he pointed to a large scar on his stomach, "Crusader Knights," then to a small scar on his arm, "But it was under the Samurai that I found my purpose."

"You have lived for over 2000 years," Bruce asked.

"Yes," Ra's said, "It the Samurai Miyamoto Musashi who gave me a reason to keep living towards my goal. When being a warrior, one must also be a strategist. The Japanese had a profound understanding of both justice and honor. It is because of the Samurai that I vowed to fight injustice worldwide. Over the years I have been alive I've lost count of how many men I have killed. All killed to fulfill my purpose: to rid the world of crime and injustice. Soon, my plan will be complete," he then turned to them, and walked up to Bruce, Nick, and Oliver, "And I now know that you three will see this plan through. I have seen it with my own eyes."

"Them father," Talia asked.

"Yes," Ra's said, "You must advance their training. Soon we will put our plans into motion."

 _Guess what happens next_ …


End file.
